What Does 2 Kings 13:2 Mean?
And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the shortcomings of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which made Israel miss the mark. He did not turn aside from it.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.THE KEY
The Hebrew uses the same root for Jeroboam’s “sins” and his making Israel “sin”: one person’s missing becomes a people’s missing.
THE MEANING
A repeated wrong can spread beyond the person who carries it and shape what a whole community follows. When no one turns aside from the pattern, it continues to hold its place in the present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a leader’s choices stay private and cannot shape the people who follow.
THE ROOT
חַטֹּאות
chatta’ot
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥṭʾ
To miss, or to miss the mark.
“shortcomings” in this verse is chatta’ot. English makes “sins” a noun and “made Israel to sin” a separate action. Hebrew repeats the same root across both: the missing that marks Jeroboam’s pattern is also what he causes Israel to share.
ALSO GROWS
chata: To miss, to miss the mark.
חָטָא
This verb is the root behind both the pattern named as Jeroboam’s sins and the act of making Israel sin.
chatta’t: Sin, a missing.
חַטָּאת
The noun behind “sins” shares its root with the verb translated “to sin,” joining the ruler’s conduct to its effect on the people.
THE PATTERN
A leader’s repeated deviation can spread through the people whose direction the leader shapes.
And he shall give Israel over because of the shortcomings of Jeroboam, who missed the mark and who caused Israel to miss the mark.If a ruler hears and responds to lies, all who stand before him are restless.But woe to you, writers and separated ones, masked ones! For you shut the governance of the heavens in the faces of people, and you yourselves do not enter, nor let those who are entering go in.THE THREAD
And he shall give Israel over because of the shortcomings of Jeroboam, who missed the mark and who caused Israel to miss the mark.The Hebrew repeats the חטא root in the “sins of Jeroboam,” his having “sinned,” and his making Israel sin. That shared root makes the transmission plain: the people’s missing grows from the ruler’s own pattern.
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